About Me

Thursday, 10 December 2009

Hey sassy geeks! This may seem like a random piece of info to start a blog with, but for the past week, I've been working in a library.

I actually chose to work there (well, what would you expect from a geek like me?)for work experience. There's a certain stereotype about librarys and the people who work there: lots of shushing, bad dress sense, possible attacks from the vashta nerada... All in all, doesn't sound like a great job?

Well, in its own funny way, it is! You learn to amuse yourself - whether its by drawing pictures on post-it notes and sticking them all over your computer, or just having a good giggle about the crazy clients - some of my favourites -

The Woman With the Deer - This lady came in asking for a book about deer; no explanation, or anything! Even more surprsingly, we had one - a kids' book. So the perfectly nice, average looking woman sat in the kids' section with her picture book for an hour or so!

Mr Beardy - Picture a man - baseball cap; long grey beard, accesorised with bushy eyebrows; grubby, long nailed fingers with skull rings on them. Not exactly male model material. This dude had one of the most complex queries ever - He wanted to return CDs, pay a small fraction of his (astronomical) fines on them - take the same CDs out again, plus two new ones. And he said "cool" too much for a gentlemen of his age.

Mrs "I Believe Miracles Happen, Courtesy of Super Librarian" - One of my favourite customers, this lady was requesting (in all seriousness) a book which had not yet even been released in the shops! I tried so hard to humour the poor wee woman. Yet, still she seemed to believe that we couldn't perform this impossible task due to some fault of mine!

The Ex-Con - This story is rather sad. A man came in - bit overweight, slurring his words - and asked for a renewal of his expired card. Expired, it turned out because he'd been in prison. It had almost forty pounds of fines on it. The gentleman in question proceeded to explain to me about the breakdown of his marriage, and just who had put him in the jail. Bit sad, a lot scary.

Quirky Old Men - From Charming to Pervy - There's one nice(ish) old fella, who comes in daily. He dresses up smart, with a long coat and a big umbrella. He gives all us gals (and less often the guys) a chocolate each day. Lovely no? No. They're free from a nearby bar - typical after-dinner mints. The other man is less charming:

Put it this way. If we were in ancient Rome, his name would be Oldmanis Pervus Totalis. He made the charming comment to my male colleague that his perfect library would have a "topless librarian". Charmant!

And true, in quiet moments, libraries can be boring. But I think I prefer that to a heart-attack inducing rush of "quirky" (here read "mental") customers. And if I get bored, at least there's plenty to read!

Monday, 30 November 2009

For those lovely sassyfied geeks here in the UK, y'all are probably sitting biting your fingernails every hour of the livelong day waiting for one special day of the year: 25th December.

And no, it's not because of the presents, the Xmas crackers, the mince pies or that delicious big bird known as a turkey, it's because...

It's Dr Who Special time again!!!

Yes that's right, the Whovians are mega excited about the next special (though the David Tennant fans are weeping at his oncoming departure). Having seen the trailer I am mega-ly stoked about it. I think I spotted the Master, Lucy Saxon, Ood Sigma, a creepily ancient looking Ood... And according to the TV guide, Rose will be returning!!!

Dunno whether that's good or bad... I don't think they should mess with the Rose story, as she's finally got her man.

Also, this holiday season will usher in a new era for Dr Who - THE ERA OF MATT SMITH!!! At the moment I don't see how he could possibly be as good as Ten was (is), but that's what I said when Chris Ecclestone left too, and look what happened...

(FYI some serious Tennant-lust happened!)

Anywhoo, the Xmas special is a serious deal and just under a month is a long time to wait. SO for those who loved Waters of Mars and are already fidgeting with impatience, here are some things you can do:

This sounds obvious, but watch all your old DVDs, or the TV reruns - I always find something new to laugh at, smirk at, or write a Fanfic about when I do that.

Read one of the excellent Dr Who books. These are published by BBC books and are available in all good bookshops (or if you live outside the UK, on Amazon, or bbcshop.com) these books have completely new stories featuring Rose, Martha and Donna. There are tons of titles to choose from, but my current favourite is The Nightmare of Black Island by Mike Tucker.

Read a Fanfic - or even write one!! Some are a bit rubbish, but some are pretty good. Curious? The link to my profile is here under links(alter ego, Happy for Deep People), most of my stories are Dr Who.

Trock out! What's Trock? Well basically it's Timelord Rock - rock for fans of Dr Who. There are two Trock albums I know of, Chameleon Circuit, by the band of the same name, and Trock On! Which is a compilation of various Trock bands. It's very nerdy fun, but is, to quote Chameleon Circuit member Alex Day, "A nice stopgap while you're waiting for the next special". The Albums are both downloadable from itunes - my favourite tracks are Blink, by Cham. Circuit and Miss Martha by Bad Wolf Bay. You can also purchase the real Dr Who soundtrack (I adore the Doomsday song, *sigh* that bassline!), again from music stores or the BBCshop.com.

Do something only hardcore fans would do. For example, GO out and find as many weeping angels as you can (while trying desperately not to Blink). Or go on TARDIS watch around your home town, photographing any Police Boxes you come accross. I plan to do that soon for this blog, teehee.

Kidnap David Tennant and make him perform some 10th Doctor improv for you (just kidding)!

But all joking aside, there are many, many ways to divert your attention from the long wait til the next Special. Get out there and enjoy - see if you can come up with some of your own too!

Wednesday, 25 November 2009

This is my first blog, and since the 2nd Twilight movie, New Moon just came out, I thought I'd give the world a piece o' my mind about The Twilight Saga.

Dunno About everyone else, but with the poularisation of Twilight I'm starting to get pretty darn p'd off. Now, I'm hardly claiming to be the first Twilight reader ever to walk the Earth, but I started reading the books before the world went Edward and Jacob insane and loved them - now, though... Everywhere you turn there's a shrieking fangirl! It's beginning to set my teeth on edge...

So I have compiled a list of the pros and cons of Twilight:

Pros:

1. It's an unusual story, and a great take on a genre of fantasy which was getting tired.

2. The heroine is not an irritating "Miss Popularity", preferring to stay at home and read, rather than head out to parties and get wasted, or sleep around.

3. Stephanie Meyer is a very talented writer, and despite the subject being fantasy, it remains very believeable.

4. It advocates good things like self-control (e.g. the Cullens refusing to drink human blood, Edward's wish for sex only after marriage) which - lets be honest - a lot of teens need to learn.

5. Bella is a real girl. Sure, she's beautiful, but she doesn't believe it, and she has a few flaws, like her clumsiness, which make her much easier to relate to.

6. Twilight has achieved what we all thought impossible - to get a generation of young people reading books, when previously all they had seemed capable of reading was the label on a bottle of nail polish.

7. The films all have very good soundtracks.

8. The casting of Jasper, Alice, Carlisle and Charlie was good.

9. Bella's heartbreak and numbness in New Moon reflects a feeling most of us have had at one time or another.

10. Edward (the character in the book, not as portrayed by Robert Pattinson, who I'm not much for) is admittedly quite sigh-worthy.

And The Cons:

1. Fangirls. Making everyone else uncomfortable with their obsession.

2. Team Edward vs. Team Jacob. Personally, I'm part of team "Shutup and read the books, they're fictional characters!"

3. Gradually you realise, after reading the books, or watching the film a 2nd or 3rd time, that Bella is actually really moany.

4.Sparkly Vampires ( I think this is a good idea, but so many people I know complain about the ridiculousness of it, that I thought I'd add it in. For fairness.)

5. Dangerous Twilight obsessions - when people are getting tattoos of the apple, or of Robert Pattinson's face, it really is too far.

6. While it's great that the aforementioned girls are reading books, it doesn't mean they can write them too! Message to Twilight fangirls - stop clogging up Fanfiction.net with badly spelt, badly puncuated drivel!

7. It's popularity has spawned a series of other vampire centric novels, and TV shows (e.g. House of Night, True Blood, amongst many others). Though some are quite good, pretty soon we're gonna get bored.

8. The casting for the rest of the Twilight characters was really messed up (sorry to RPatz, KStew and Taylor Lautner fans, no offense intended!)

9. For some, Bella's total reliance on Edward is unhealthy, and some have even called their relationship abusive.

10. Edward is not sigh-worthy enough for the many posters, t-shirts, and other merchandise which bears his brooding image.

Well, that's my list! If anyone has any other pros and cons, feel free to drop a comment and let me know!